In the past, rolls of photosensitive film or paper web have been supplied in either of two ways. In one, the web has been enclosed within a light-tight paper bag to be removed prior to use; in the other, within an injection-molded disposable cartridge. Each container protects the sensitized roll therein from physical damage and exposure to light during storage, transport, and loading, or example, into a minilab machine or microfiche printer/processor. The disposable cartridge, however, is both costly and wasteful. In some applications, a paper bag container must be unloaded in the dark, in order to safely transfer its stock roll from the bag to a reusable cartridge or dispensing stand. Such work in the dark can be awkward and time-consuming, and the stock roll can be easily damaged or light-struck through mishandling. There has thus been a need for a practical, convenient, and reliable method of light-tightly enclosing a photosensitive film or paper stock roll in readiness for dispensing of web directly from the enclosure within the machine itself without resort to a dispensing cartridge, and preferably by an enclosure that is not only economical to make and use but also is readily recyclable for further use of its constituent parts.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,105,604 issued Apr. 21, 1992, and 5,161,685 issued Nov. 10, 1992, both issued to Harris et al. and hereby incorporated by reference, disclose method and apparatus for enclosing, storing, and dispensing a roll of photosensitive web material wound about a hollow cylindrical core having open opposite ends. The apparatus is intended for mounting on a mandrel in a minilab cartridge. The enclosure comprises a flexible opaque bag with opposite sidewalls extending between opposing rearward and forward portions and opposing upper and lower portions. Each sidewall has a central aperture therein congruent with each core end. The rearward portion defines a closable opening for receiving the roll. A shallow neck portion projects from the forward portion to an end thereof defining an exit slot for dispensing the web material. A collar fits tightly inside each core end, with an annular flange thereon facing axially outward. An annular ring is attachable to each collar in spaced, inward-facing relation to the flange. The roll is first positioned in the bag, through its closable opening, so that the web material extends into the neck portion and out through the exit slot, and so that a central portion of the collar at each core end projects outwardly through the adjacent sidewall aperture, witch its flange left inside the sidewall and facing an annular portion thereof surrounding the aperture. The annular ring is then attached to the outwardly projecting portion of the collar in closely spaced, inward-facing relation to the sidewall annular portion, which is thus loosely trapped between the flange and the ring. The bag opening is then closed, and the bag neck portion is folded back and secured against the bag forward portion.
The invention disclosed in '604 and '685 can function to enclose, store, and dispense photosensitive web from a dispensing cartridge. However, the combination of a core, two core extensions, two enclosure sidewalls, and two flanges can make the overall axial dimension of the assembled dispenser too large for the assembly to fit into some commercially-available, existing cartridges. Furthermore, changing web widths requires a different width cartridge for each desired web width. Furthermore, since the web is fully protected from light by the apparatus disclosed in the referenced patents, the cartridge itself is largely superfluous, being needed only as a hanger having a mandrel to support the roll of web on its hollow core and to allow it to unwind during use.
It is a principal object of the invention to provide an improved light-tight enclosure and dispensing stand for storing and dispensing photosensitive web in a minilab machine or a microfiche printer/processor.